Tagged With "Black History Month"
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Weekly Highlights
Neighborhood conditions associated with children’s cognitive function November 4, 2020 U.S. National Institutes of Health A study published today in JAMA Network Open shows that children from poorer neighborhoods perform less well on a range of cognitive functions, such as verbal ability, reading skills, memory, and attention, and have smaller brain volumes in key cognitive regions compared to those from wealthier neighborhoods. While multiple studies have shown that household socioeconomic...
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Weekly Highlights
Native American Heritage Month When COVID-19 hit the Navajo Nation, it limited students’ educational opportunities after schools closed, eliminated essential school services, exposed ongoing inequities, and made health and economic hardships families face worse. Navajo health officials said COVID-19 started spreading across the nation after a tribal member attended a basketball tournament in early March then went to a church revival the next day in Chilchinbeto, a small community south of...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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The Turrell Fund is proud to present the first Turrell Town Hall featuring Dave Ellis, Office of Resilience, NJDCF discussing ACEs.
Welcome! Thank you for your interest in the first-ever Turrell Town Hall, a virtual discussion series for Turrell grantees, partners, and networks. Hosted and moderated by Evan Delgado, Vice President of Programs at the Turrell Fund, this Town Hall will feature Dave Ellis, Executive Director of the Office of Resilience at the New Jersey Department of Children & Families to discuss statewide developments around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the key role of Turrell affiliates...
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U.S. Coast Guard honors Black veteran, NFL great
Above is U.S. Coast Guard photo of Emlen Tunnell, who served in the Coast Guard during and after World War II, was the first Black player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Before he became the first Black player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Emlen Tunnell served in the U.S. Coast Guard during and after World War II, where he was credited with saving the lives of two shipmates. Now, a Coast Guard cutter and an athletic building on the Coast Guard Academy campus are...
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PreventingACES.pdf
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Black history explains why COVID-19 has ravaged that community | Opinion
By Star-Ledger Guest Columnist By Hamid Shaaban Black History Month is often observed by commemorating Black excellence and honoring the remarkable achievements and contributions of Black people in the United States and around the world. This month, I propose to all my colleagues in healthcare and medicine to promote and advance education about the history of medical racism. That history is Black history and it is often neglected and remains largely unacknowledged. It’s important to...
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Doug Williams - First Black Quarterback to Win Super Bowl XXII
On January 31st, 1988 Doug Williams made history. But before that historic day, Williams was already a history-maker. One of the greatest HBCU athletes of all time, Doug Williams career started as a Freshman at Grambling State University under legendary head coach Eddie Robinson. Williams was a four-year starter for GSU, leading the Tigers to a 36-7 record, three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles and was awarded the Black College Player of the Year twice. 1977 Williams finished...
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New Jersey's Own Whitney Houston
Today marks nine years since we lost an icon, the indelible mark Whitney Houston left on this world continues on today! With over 200 million combined album, singles and videos sold worldwide during her career with Arista Records, Whitney Houston has established a benchmark for superstardom that will quite simply never be eclipsed in the modern era. She is a singer’s singer who has influenced countless other vocalists female and male. Music historians cite Whitney’s record-setting...
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New Jersey's Underground Railroad
Lawnside, New Jersey The Peter Mott House is the oldest known house to serve as a station on the Underground Railroad in New Jersey. Elizabeth and Newark New Jersey Jersey City - The last stop Before the Civil War, Jersey City was the last stop on the New Jersey Underground Railroad route for many runaway slaves seeking freedom. The quest for freedom prompted an estimated 100,000 19th century black slaves to make the dangerous journey along the Underground Railroad. That term refers to the...
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Black Enterprise - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Virtual Summit 2021
PLEASE CHECK THE CALENDAR FOR DETAILS.
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Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger Was Black
If you’re like me, you remember watching the popular television show, The Lone Ranger, where it depicted a white man who wore a disguise on a white horse and had a Native American counterpart with him named Tonto. The story we are most familiar with started out as a radio show, then a popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, then comic books, and several cartoons and big-budget movies. But like many things during slavery, history may have been obscured and the actual “Lone Ranger”...
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Elijah McClain - The Association Between Abusive Policing and PTSD Symptoms Among U.S. Police Officers
"I'm an introvert, I don't do those things. You all are beautiful and I love you. Please try to forgive me" were the last words spoken by Elijah McClain. He would have been 25. The Association Between Abusive Policing and PTSD Symptoms Among U.S. Police Officers Objective: Initiatives to curb police abuse in the United States are often viewed as “antipolice” or politically unpopular. Efforts to address police violence may be more acceptable if abusive practices are shown to have an adverse...
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Black History NJ: The Complete Series
Jersey Joe Walcott Arnold Raymond Cream, aka Jersey Joe Walcott, was born in Merchantville, NJ, on Jan. 31, 1914. He held the record for the oldest heavyweight champion for more than four decades. His father, an immigrant from Barbados, died when Walcott was 15, which forced him to go to work to provide for his mother and younger siblings. At 16-years-old, he began boxing professionally and adopted Jersey Joe Walcott as his moniker… Carla Harris Montclair resident Carla Harris is an author,...
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N.J. teachers, child care, transportation workers to become eligible for COVID vaccine, Murphy says By Matt Arco | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
New Jersey teachers, child care and transportation workers will be eligible starting March 15 for the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday morning. The governor, appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said it’s “an imperative” to have those people vaccinated and hinted he would provide additional details at his regular COVID-19 briefing in Trenton at 1 p.m. Murphy followed with a Tweet indicating the new group would includes “additional public safety workers.” “We’re phasing...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences: Inside NJ's Plan to Address a Perennial Harm
Last month New Jersey unveiled a unique action plan to help families and communities protect against and heal from the effects of adverse childhood experiences that can cause harm to individuals and families for generations. After a year of living under intense pandemic pressures, the need has likely never been so great. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, impact four of ten youngsters in New Jersey across racial and economic lines according to a 2019 report . These traumas – such as...
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Trauma Informed Care
Trauma Informed Care Newsletter | Issue 4, February 2021 Do you remember your first job as a helper? Mine goes back more than 25 years when I was hired as a Treatment Foster Care therapist for Community Impact Programs in Racine, Wisconsin. Transforming Systems of Care: What's Going On in Racine County, Wisconsin By Tim Grove, Senior Consultant Do you remember your first job as a helper? Mine goes back more than 25 years when I was hired as a Treatment Foster Care therapist for Community...
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Kathleen Neal Cleaver | Winona LaDuke | Naomi Klein
Kathleen Neal Cleaver In the '60s, Kathleen Neal Cleaver was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party, in which she created the position of communications secretary. In 1998, she said , "I think it is important to place the women who fought oppression as Black Panthers within the longer tradition of freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida Wells-Barnett, who took on an entirely oppressive world and insisted that their race, their gender, and their humanity be respected...
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Breonna Taylor - One Year Later - No Accountability
Before Breonna Taylor's name became synonymous with police violence against Black Americans, she was an emergency medical technician in Louisville, Ky. The 26-year-old Black woman's friends and family say she was beloved, and relished the opportunity to brighten someone else's day. Exactly one year ago, Louisville police gunned her down in her home. Now, her name is a ubiquitous rallying cry at protests calling for police reforms, and many social justice advocates point to her story as an...
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Loretta Perfectus Walsh
FIRST FEMALE TO ENLIST IN THE U.S. NAVY. SIGNIFICANT DUTY STATIONS NAVAL SHIPYARD, PHILADELPHIA SIGNIFICANT AWARDS WORLD WAR I VICTORY MEDAL SERVICE MEMORIES FIRST FEMALE TO ENLIST IN THE NAVY The U.S. Naval Reserve Act of 1916 permitted the enlistment of qualified “persons” for service in the Navy. When the Secretary of the Navy asked whether this applied only to males and was told that it did not, the Navy began enlisting women less than a month later. Historical records reflect that on...
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The Path Forward
A discussion on racial equity in housing and an inclusive economy One in three households — nearly 100 million people across the U.S. — struggle with housing costs that jeopardize their financial security, according to the Aspen Institute. As one of the biggest determinants of financial and physical health, housing can influence a person’s access to education, health care and job opportunities, and has the ability to transform entire communities and strengthen the economy. And yet, while the...
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Advocates push for yearly screenings of NJ students for drugs, depression
Not many young students will volunteer information, unprompted, about feelings of depression or their recent experimentation with drugs. That's why advocates, school employees and lawmakers are pushing for regular screenings of students at the middle- and high-school levels, as long as their parents consent. With a caseload of 400 students, counselor Cristina Puri at Lincoln Park Middle School typically wouldn't end up seeing a troubled student until someone else sensed an issue or the...
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In the Child Welfare System, Black Families Should Matter
Steve Volk | NextCity.org Reimagining a foster care system that errs on the side of protecting children, but disproportionately investigates and punishes Black families more for economic hardship than harm. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part One of a two-part series in the “Our Kids” reporting project. Our Kids is a project of the Broke in Philly reporting collaborative that examines the challenges and opportunities facing Philadelphia’s foster care system. (See also Part Two, “Can Racial Bias Be...
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Sen. Booker, Reps. Adams & Underwood Introduce Black Maternal Health Week Resolution
22 Co-sponsors in the Senate and over 47 in the House join resolution to raise national awareness of the state of Black maternal health in the United States. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12) and Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced a resolution recognizing Black Maternal Health Week, “to bring national attention to the maternal health crisis in the United States and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among Black...
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Black Maternal Health Week, Apr. 11-17
Black Maternal Health Week takes place each year from April 11-17. Learn more about this year’s goals, which are to: Deepen the national conversation about Black maternal health in the US; Amplify community-driven policy, research, and care solutions; Center the voices of Black Mamas, women, families, and stakeholders; Provide a national platform for Black-led entities and efforts on maternal health, birth and reproductive justice; and Enhance community organizing on Black maternal health.
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Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM)
April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). Currently, the Division on Women (DOW) supports statewide community-level primary prevention efforts to prevent sexual violence. To advance these efforts, we work with non-traditional partners and consider them as experts in their own lives and community pillars for change . We believe that impactful primary prevention efforts begin with community engagement and providing tools to communities so they can empower themselves. As such, our...
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Federal Grant Opportunities
Environmental Regulatory Enhancement The Administration for Children and Families, Administration for Native Americans announces the availability of Fiscal Year 2021 funds for community-based projects for the Environmental Regulatory Enhancement (ERE) program. The ERE program provides funding for the costs of planning, developing, and implementing programs designed to improve the capability of tribal governing bodies to regulate environmental quality pursuant to federal and tribal...
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Today is Denim Day - Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Denim Day, established in 1999, is a campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped the person who raped her remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim. This...
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Marking National Mental Health Awareness Month, Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Cover Expenses for Adolescent Mental Health Screenings
TRENTON – In advance of National Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Governor Phil Murphy today signed A3548 into law, which will require private insurers, the State Health Benefit Plan, and School Employees' Health Benefits Program to put into place policies and procedures to ensure coverage of expenses in mental health screening of a major depressive disorder for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. “The effects and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has put the mental health of...
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Mental Health Awareness Events in NJ 2021
Monday, May 17 – NAMI NYC-Metro invites you to their free online event: Family & COVID – No One Said It Would Be Easy. A conversation about families, lock-down, and mental health, focused on how families can support and have supported each other, how communities and workplaces factor in, and where we go from here. Presented by María Bautista, LCSW, and Pam Berman, Chief Talent Officer at Publicis Health on family relationships, COVID-19, and mental health. At 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Register...
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A century later, she still bears witness to a race massacre - Tulsa Massacre May 31 – June 1, 1921
Viola Ford Fletcher is also still waiting for justice. By TONY NORMAN • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette America has been telling Viola Ford Fletcher to wait for justice ever since she was 7 years old. Now a spry 107, Fletcher is running out of patience with America. Delivered by midwife on a farm in Lawton, Okla., on May 10, 1914, Fletcher was born 138 years after the American experiment commenced in 1776. As a Black daughter of Oklahoma, she had no more reason to believe in America’s promises than...
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THE POLYNESIAN PANTHER PARTY
The Polynesian Panthers were a liberation activist group that fought for Polynesian and Māori empowerment in New Zealand. Inspired by the Black Power movement in the United States, along with Māori protests within the country, inner city youth in Auckland were emboldened to stand against capitalism and to fight for visibility. Auckland’s urban areas were filled with Pacific Islander immigrants, and their Kiwi-born children, who were subjected to police brutality, faced harsh discrimination,...
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100 Years later| Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre| Premieres May 30 at 8/7c | The HISTORY Channel
In the 1920s, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, also known as Black Wall Street, was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. Filled with booming businesses and thriving entrepreneurs, the district served as a mecca of Black ingenuity and promise, until the evening of May 31, 1921, which marked the start of the devastating Tulsa Race Massacre. More than thirty-five city blocks were burned to the ground and hundreds of Black city dwellers were...
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Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is celebrated annually in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots, and works to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) Americans. In June of 1969, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City staged an uprising to resist the police harassment and persecution to which LGBT Americans were commonly subjected. This uprising marks the beginning...
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Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope
In honor of National Foster Care Month, National Reunification Month and the League’s continuing mission to bring advocacy to young people within and who have aged out of the foster care system, the Junior League of Montclair Newark, in partnership with New Jersey's Office of Resilience, proudly present a virtual screening of the highly acclaimed documentary: Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope Researchers recently discovered a dangerous biological syndrome caused by...
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Think you know something about historical trauma? PACEs Connection's 'Historical Trauma in America' series promises to be an eye-opener
Per: Jane Stevens , PACEs Connection staff. The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 unleashed hundreds of articles, books, podcasts, film and online documentaries. It’s not that the roots of racism and inequity in historical trauma hadn’t been known about or written about previous to his death (Frederick Douglas, James Baldwin, anyone?), but the pressures of hundreds of years of injustice began a near explosive untangling from the massive twisted and angry knot they’d formed over generations.
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PACEs Champion Dwana Young navigates community-driven ACEs healing centers in New Jersey
In 2020, New Jersey, a state with about 9 million people spread over the rural countryside and dense urban areas like Newark, launched a new entity: the NJ Office of Resilience (NJOR). The NJOR is unusual because it is a public-private partnership. It brings together three private foundations as well as the NJ Department of Children and Families to provide community-driven strategies for preventing, treating, and healing from ACEs. Like a ship’s navigator laying out a course on charts, Dwana...
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Finding Peace in the Midst of Brokenness: Anonymous Blogger
In honor of mental health month I ask myself this question: What is something you need to start saying “yes” to? To most individuals the answer is very simple; minute. Unfortunately for an over thinker and self-doubter like I this is a loaded questions which constitutes a complex answer. My old self wants to run as fast as I can and hide until the question goes away, but the new me is ready to face it head on. So here it goes. I need to start saying yes to MYSELF! Over the past few months,...
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Systemic Racism & Health Care: Building Black Confidence in the COVID-19 Vaccine
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment. The secret sale of Henrietta Lacks cancer research cells. Jim Crow laws affecting African Americans' ability to receive medical treatment. For weeks, it’s been hard to hear over the clamor of millions of Americans lining up for COVID-19 vaccines. But not everyone has been enthused — namely, large swaths of minority communities, which comprise the populations disproportionately impacted by the virus, but whose hesitance is largely fueled by the country’s...
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2021 National Community Leadership Summit - Virtual
We invite you to join us for the 2021 National Community Leadership Summit , hosted by Vital Village Networks. We seek to connect with and learn alongside a national assembly of visionary and collaborative leaders, like you, who are dedicated to the fundamental social transformation necessary to ensure that all children succeed and that families are welcomed as partners and change agents. The summit features two signature conference days, on Monday, October 18th, and Friday, October 22nd,...
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Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program
PUBLIC NOTICE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Notice of Availability of Funds Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program Take notice that, in compliance with N.J.S.A. 52:14-34.4, the Department of Law and Public Safety (DLPS), Office of the Attorney General announces the anticipated availability of the following grant program funds: a) Name of the Program: Bolstering Police-Youth Trust Program. This program is supported by the Federal Fiscal Year 2020 (FFY20) Edward Byrne...
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West Point statue honors famed Buffalo Soldiers
Black cavalry unit taught horsemanship to white cadets, suffered racism. By SARAHMASLIN NIR and PRECIOUS FONDREN New York Times WEST POINT, N.Y. – A large crowd watched expectantly as a soldier tugged at a black cloth spread over a monumental statue on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Friday. As it fell away, it revealed a bronze statue of a Black soldier sitting astride a stallion, a tribute to the U.S. Army’s famed Black cavalry — the Buffalo Soldiers — who for...
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Cesarean deliveries decline in N.J., but childbirth complications rise for Black, Hispanic mothers
By Elizabeth Llorente | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Cesarean deliveries declined slightly in New Jersey, but Black and Hispanic mothers again experienced more childbirth complications than white women, continuing a long pattern in the state, according to a newly released report. Black women for years have had a maternal mortality rate seven times higher than white women in the state. The New Jersey Report Card of Hospital Maternity Care, released Monday by the state Health Department and...
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Suicide Prevention Resources
Experts agree that the best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it, but people are often afraid to bring it up. Stigma plays a big role in our reluctance, but it’s also scary to acknowledge that someone you love might be feeling suicidal. People are understandably afraid of saying the wrong thing, too. In recognition of Suicide Prevention Awareness month, this week on childmind.org we share resources for families worried about suicide. Teenagers are notoriously prickly and teenagers...
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Educators share strategies to help students, staff heal from pandemic trauma
The stress, fear, grief and loneliness of the pandemic has weighed hard on school-aged children. Some 31 % of parents reported worsening emotional health among their children, according to a report by the JED Foundation . In addition, there was a 31% jump in mental health emergency room visits for teens between 12 and 17 from 2019 to 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . And it’s little wonder. At least 43,000 children have lost a parent to COVID,...